Reports: Mumbai Indians to offer Jofra Archer year-long contract

Five-time Indian Premier League champions Mumbai Indians (MI) are reportedly set to offer England ace pacer Jofra Archer a year-long contract. Notably, if the 28-year-old agrees to the offer, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will then have to take permission from the franchise to allow him to play for the national team again. If MI manage to pull off something like this, then it will be a rare occurrence.

Notably, Mumbai Indians signed Jofra Archer at the IPL auction in 2022 despite knowing that the cricketer will not be able to play a single match in the competition.

Later on, Jofra was picked up by MI Cape Town ahead of the inaugural edition of the SA20 league, where he picked up 10 wickets in six matches. In the IPL 2023, the Barbados-born cricketer played only five matches and picked up two wickets before heading back home.

Despite his fitness being a major concern, MI are all set back the cricketer and now, might end up controlling his schedule (if Jofra signs any such contract) in order to keep him fit for various franchise-based tournaments that MI are a part of. Meanwhile, the two parties are yet to sit down to have this conversation but a report from Daily Mail suggests that the franchise is ready to go all-in. 

Reports also claim that players like Alex Hales may get such offers as well. The England international isn’t regular in the national team and that is why a particular franchise (name unknown) is interested to get him on board. He was signed by Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2022 but the opener didn’t take part in order to manage his workload.

Kiwi pacer Trent Boult is also one of the favourites to get bagged by an IPL franchise. The cricketer opted out of New Zealand’s central contract in 2022 and thus, he is eligible to sign such a contract with any of the franchises. Currently, he plays for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, which also has franchises in the SA20 (Paarl Royals) and CPLT20 (Barbados Royals).